


rest your heavy heart

by dragonesdepapel



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Getting Back Together, I'm so bad at tagging, Roommates, does mutual pinning count for this one?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21676429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonesdepapel/pseuds/dragonesdepapel
Summary: “You don't understand,” Glimmer started slowly, begging to a higher power to grant her some sort of peace, “why letting your ex-girlfriend stay at your apartment is a bad idea?”
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 402





	rest your heavy heart

There had been times in Glimmer's life in which she had greatly worried about her best friend. She supposed it made sense. After all, Adora had had quite a troublesome life up until now. A tragic past, an abusive mother figure, a character that was prone to anxiety. She had all the ingredients to need a good few hours of therapy while in her twenties. 

But most times, like this one, the cause of her worries wasn't connected to Adora's troubled backstory, but rather to her plain dumbness. 

“Ok, one more time, tell us what you did one more time please.” 

Bless Bow and his sunny, ever-optimist personality. He still thought they had hope of Adora not being the most senseless person in the planet. 

“I told Catra that she could move in with me until the issue with her pipes gets solved.” Adora repeated dutifully. 

Bow kept silent after that, words still turning over in his head. He was trying to get them to make any sense, but Glimmer knew, it was hopeless. 

She finally dropped her hands from where they had been rubbing at her temples. This headache wasn't going to go away any soon. 

“Adora, babe, you realize that this is a terrible idea, right?” 

Adora blinked. Then she tilted her head to the side. Then she blinked once more. “No, why?” 

“You don't understand,” Glimmer started slowly, begging to a higher power to grant her some sort of peace, “why letting your ex-girlfriend stay at your apartment is a bad idea?” 

Adorable frowned. “It's not like that.” 

“Adora,” Bow gently tried again. 

“No, you have never understood my relationship with Catra. And that's ok! But I told you before. Me and Catra are friends. Always have, always will be. And friends don't let friends be homeless for three weeks.” 

“I give up,” Glimmer said, dramatically covering her eyes with her arm. “We've lost her, there's nothing we can do to save her.” 

Bow elbowed her on the ribs. Glimmer moved her arm to glare at him. 

“What she means,” Bow said, “is that we want to make sure you've really thought this through. You took your breakup really hard, remember?” 

‘Hard’ was an understatement. Adora had been a mess for weeks following the fallout. Sometimes Glimmer thought that she had never really gotten over it, she had just buried it as deep in her subconscious as possible, and that someday Adora would trip over it by mistake and it'd blow up, leaving Glimmer to pick up whatever pieces remained. 

“I appreciate you guys looking out for me, you know that. But seriously, it's ok. We both decided it was a mistake, we both mourned the end of that relationship, and we both are way more comfortable as friends! Seriously, it'll be fine.” 

There was really nothing she could say to make her change her mind. No one could get Adora to do that if she thought she was making the right choice, especially when it came to helping someone in need. 

And so, Glimmer could only brace herself for what she thought would be a total and complete disaster, make herself as readily available for her friend as she could, and hope that Adora would land on her feet, as she usually did. 

* * *

“Where is she going to sleep?” Glimmer asked suddenly, fearing the answer already. 

“In my bed, obviously.” 

Glimmer clutched at her heart, a thing she thought only grandmothers did. 

Adora burst into giggles. “I'm joking, I'm joking. She'll take the couch.” 

* * *

Adora knew that her friends were just trying to help. But it was cool, really. Sure, breaking up with Catra had been one of the hardest things she ever had to do, but it wasn’t because of the breakup itself. It was because of the fear of it meaning she would lose Catra forever. 

But that hadn’t happened, obviously. Things had been a bit awkward at the beginning but they had pushed forward and they had made it work. They both agreed that nothing was more important to each other than their friendship. Catra was the best friend Adora had ever had, and she wasn’t about to give her up because of some mixed-up romantic feelings. 

So yeah, Adora knew what Glimmer and Bow meant, but still, she had this. 

"The bathroom is at the end of that corridor; you can put your things in that closet over there. And this is you,” she said awkwardly, stretching her arm to point at her couch. 

Catra snorted. “Are you really giving me a tour of your apartment? You realize I've been here a million times, right?” 

Adora resisted the urge to facepalm. “Right. Sorry, I don’t know why I’m being so awkward.” Seriously, what had gotten over her? 

Catra snickered as she threw herself to the couch. “Ugh, this is so comfortable.” She stretched her arms over her head and burrowed herself farther into the side of the couch. “I can’t believe your couch is better than my bed.” 

“Well, your bed is little more than a soggy mess right now,” she pointed out. She batted Catra’s feet away from the couch, her boots were still on. She sat down on the end of the couch, knowing that Catra would try to claim it as hers again if Adora didn’t. 

Catra laid her feed on Adora’s lap instead, and positioned the pillow that Adora had left for her under her head. She rolled her eyes. “I meant, before.” 

“I know, I was just messing with you.” She started undoing Catra’s shoelaces so she could take the boots off. “But c’mon, I told you a thousand times you’d hate that bed and you wouldn’t listen.”

“Shut up.” 

“Make me,” Adora said and froze.

She had talked without thinking. That had been the standard answer for years. When they were kids, and one said ‘make me’, a round of roughhousing would sure follow. Once they became a couple, it was most likely to be followed by a kiss. And now? 

“I don’t have to. Now get out of my room, I want to take a nap.” 

It took a minute for Adora to recover. She stayed there, watching Catra close her eyes and try to sleep. Any other time she would have ribbed her for having to take a nap so early in the day, but between her mistake and the fact that Catra looked exhausted from having had to organize her temporary moving all morning, she let her be.

She carefully extracted herself from the couch and retired to her room. 

* * *

Waking up from her nap to find Adora making coffee sure was...an experience. It would be a familiar one, except that it wasn’t, not anymore. Things had changed so much in the last few months. Catra knew it was her fault. She knew it was for the best. 

It didn’t make it easier. 

“Breaking your ‘no coffee after four pm rule’, huh?” 

Adora jumped a bit, clearly startled. “Shit,” she said, scattering to clean up the mess she’d made. Then she smiled shyly at Catra, like a kid who had been caught with her hand on the cookie jar. “I deserve it, ok? This week has been hell.” 

Catra frowned. Adora really shouldn’t be drinking coffee if she was already this anxious. But she was a grown girl, she couldn’t tell her what to do. 

“Do you want tea?” Adora asked. 

“Sure.” Catra got up from the couch – had that blanket always been there? – and approached Adora in the kitchen. 

Adora handed her the tea box and Catra pondered over her options for a few seconds. She handed it back along with her chosen tea and Adora set it on her cup before pouring water over it. 

“Work’s been hard then? You haven’t told me about it.” 

Adora shrugged as she brought her cup up to her mouth. “Just the usual end-of-the-month messiness.” 

Catra looked at her with suspicion. It was just like Adora to try and minimize whatever was bothering her. It was unlike her not to have told anything about it to Catra though. Perhaps this was just the way things were from now on. There were a lot of things Catra was still getting the hang off. It was like getting to know Adora all over again. 

Except that it wasn’t, because that it wasn’t, because Catra had never really had to ‘get to know’ Adora. They had grown up together. It was more like they had discovered themselves and each other together. And now? It was like Catra was doing the opposite. She was learning the pieces of Adora that she would never share again. Perhaps her work life drama was one of them. 

Suddenly, the small kitchen felt oppressive, and Catra found it hard to breathe. 

“I should get going, I still have a million errands to run today,” she said, hastily leaving her cup by the sink.

Adora didn’t say anything as Catra gathered her stuff, but she stopped her by the door. 

“Should I wait for you for dinner?” 

“No,” Catra replied, the knot in her stomach growing tighter. She all but ran from the apartment. 

* * *

Catra hadn’t planned on being away for most of the day, but she had ended up finding more and more excuses to stay away. At least until she looked at the hour and realized it was almost ten. 

By the time she made it back to Adora’s place, Catra knew that Adora must have already be asleep. 

She slowly made her way through the apartment, trying to shake off the ridiculous voice in her head that was telling her that she had been running away from Adora all day. She hadn’t! She had been busy. A pipe had burst in her apartment, there were lots of things to do! 

She was so caught up in her internal monologue that she forgot to pay attention to her surroundings. She stumbled upon a chair, sending it clattering to the ground. 

‘Shit’, she thought. She stayed very still, listening for movement in the other room.

“Catra?” Adora’s voice rang out after a few seconds. 

Catra cursed herself. Adora’s voice had sounded high and panicked. She knew that Adora’s anxiety went off whenever she was jolted awake. 

“Yeah, it’s me.” 

“Ok,” Adora said, sounding not ok at all. 

For a few seconds Catra stayed there, trying to decide what to do. Should she go to her?

They were friends. Adora could be half-way through a panic attack right now and it was Catra’s fault. 

She approached Adora’s room. She put her hand over the doorknob, then she stopped. It wasn’t her place. Not anymore. Adora would have called her in if she had wanted to. Catra stood there, counting her breaths. Seconds went by without hearing anything from inside so she finally let her hand fall and went back to the living room. 

* * *

The next morning, Adora woke up to the telltale smell of someone cooking breakfast in her kitchen. 

It used to be Catra's signature move after a fight: to either let herself into her house early in the morning, or to quietly slip out of bed without waking Adora, so she could apologize in a way that words didn't quite communicate. 

The first time that Glimmer had cooked breakfast for Adora after the break-up, Adora had broken down sobbing at the kitchen table. 

"Good morning!" Adora said cheerfully as she entered the kitchen. 

"Morning," said Catra, who was carefully arranging an omelet on its plate. 

"Do you need help with anything?" She asked, though the table already looked quite full of stuff. 

"Nope, you woke up just in time." 

Which, of course, Adora always did. Her alarm was set to 7 am every day of the week. 

"You know you don't have to cook for me, right? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and you are a guest." 

Catra stuck her tongue out at her. "That's debatable," she said, clearly thinking of some of Adora's most famous failed attempts at cooking. "But don't expect this kind of attention every day. Waking up before seven is a cruel, cruel thing." 

"Ok, rude. I AM perfectly capable of cooking..." she trailed off when she saw Catra make a face at her again. She threw a bit of toast at her face. "Shut up, I am." And then, realizing she was not winning that particular argument. "Well if waking up at seven it's so horrible, why did you do it today?" 

"Because you are doing me a huge favor by letting me stay here and I'm not fucking ungrateful?" 

Adora stared at her. 

"Ok ok, and also because I feel guilty for waking you up last night. I should have been more careful." 

Ah. So that was it.

"I told you it was ok." 

Catra glared at her. "Adora, you were two seconds away from a freaking panic attack. I'm just saying, it won't happen again." 

So she had noticed Adora's panic in her voice. She thought she hadn't. 

'It won't happen again.' No more breakfasts with Catra. No more breakfasts cooked by Catra. It was relieving to hear it, truth to be told. Adora had already gotten used to Catraless breakfasts once, and she knew how much it would hurt to have to do it again. 

But. 

They were friends. 

Adora knew this. Friends sometimes had breakfasts together. She had them with Glimmer all the time. She had to stop thinking about Catra as a pain related entity. She was her friend. And friends brought happiness, not pain. 

She finished her omelet in silence. Catra sipped her tea quietly. 

Adora's phone alarm broke the peace. 

"That's my cue to leave" she said, laughing awkwardly. "Time to do some jogging." 

"Have fun." 

* * *

So, ok, Adora thought as she went through her usual routine. Perhaps she wasn’t handling Catra moving in as well as she had thought. Maybe she did have some unresolved issues from when they had split up. 

But it was ok! Really, she was ok. They’d be ok. Catra and her had overcame things way more serious than a failed romantic relationship. Sure, Adora had almost ran away from her this morning but it had been because she had been caught by surprise! She’d get used to it. To Catra, sharing her space. In a totally platonic way. That was what they had been doing before, right? 

Except that it wasn’t. It wasn’t the same. Things they used to do all the time without blinking twice were now charged with a meaning they hadn’t been before. Memories upon memories piled up, pressing over her till the point Adora felt like she would crack under the pressure. 

But she’d get used to it. To this new dynamic. Besides, Catra would only have to say with her for three weeks, and that wasn’t all that long. 

If anything, this was a great opportunity to restore their friendship to what it should be, and Adora wasn’t going to waste it. 

* * *

“So? How are things going with your new roommate?” 

Adora tried to steer her face away from the discomfort that she was feeling. “Great! Totally cool, totally normal.” 

“That bad, huh?” 

She hid her face behind her hands and let out a long groan. Why did she even try to keep things from her friends anyway? They were mean and they knew all her tells. 

Bow put a hand over her shoulders, giving her a side hug. “Just let it all out.” 

She knew she wouldn't find such compassion on Glimmer’s face, so Adora avoided her gaze. “It’s a complete disaster. I’ve barely been able to stay home this week.” She finally put her hands down, but kept her eyes on them. “It’s too much. Too many memories, too much uncertainty. I barely know how to behave like a normal person around her. Like, what’s the line between romantic and platonic? Where’s the line between how we behaved before and how we should behave now? How do I make sure there are no misunderstandings between us?” 

She heard Glimmer sigh, so Adora thought it safe to look up again. Glimmer grabbed one of her hands and gave it a light squeeze. 

“But how are you handling it? Are you ok?” 

That was a question Adora hadn’t asked herself. She mulled it over for a second. 

“I think so?” she finally said. “I got sad a lot the first few days but I think that’s not such a problem now.” 

“Then, maybe, you just need to...stop overthinking it?” 

Adora glared at her. Glimmer put her hands up in surrender. “I know, I know. You are Adora, princess of overthinking. But seriously, maybe you just need to stop thinking so much about what you are or aren’t supposed to do around her and you just need to do it.” 

Adora looked at Bow for help, but he seemed too agreed with Glimmer, so she had no option but to try and think about Glimmer's suggestion. 

“Maybe you are right. Maybe I’m being too weird about this. I mean, you guys are my friends and I don’t think about every single thing I do around you, right?” 

“Right.” 

“I can totally do this!” 

“Yeah!” 

“I’m going to go home, face Catra, have dinner with her, and it’ll be completely normal!” 

“Yeah!” 

“And you guys are coming with me!” 

“Ye-wait, what?” 

“C’mon guys, with you there it’d all be so much easier, please?” 

Bow and Glimmer exchanged a long look, then sighed. “Ok.” 

* * *

Dinner ended up going really well. Well, relatively well. Glimmer had been particularly frosty towards Catra and Adora didn’t need that added dash of awkwardness, but besides that, everything had gone pretty well. Being around others had made it easier for her to do what her friends had suggested and just stop overthinking things. 

All in all, she thought this whole thing would end up saving her and Catra’s friendship from just falling into the dark abyss of awkwardness and faded memories. 

Talking to Bow and Glimmer also gave Adora a new perspective, and a renowned will to make things work between her and Catra. She had been her best friend since they were kids, and she wasn’t going to let this ruin them. She thought that they had already patched things up as best as they could, but this week at her place had let her see how wrong she was. They hadn’t fixed things; they had just buried them.

But not anymore! Adora would get them back to the place they were before no matter what! She’d stare at the weirdness of their new relationship in the face and she’d make it go away. 

* * *

She cooked lunch on Saturday. 

“Seriously Adora? How did you manage to burn this?” 

She _tried_ to cook lunch on Saturday.

“I swear I was paying attention,” Adora said, crossing her arms.

Catra’s eyes went from her to the pan and then back to her. 

“Why were you even cooking today? Didn’t you say you were going out with Glimmer?” 

“She rescheduled,” (after Adora had told her that she didn’t need a reason to stay away from her apartment anymore). “I thought we could have lunch together. You’ve been here for a week and we have hardly seen each other,” (by design, of course, but still, it was true.) 

Catra looked at her with suspicion, and Adora tried to look as nonchalant as possible. 

Finally, Catra sighed, took the pan from the stove and left it by the sink. “It’s getting late, let me order something?” 

Adora resisted the urge to pump her arm up in victory. “Yes!” 

* * *

“Yeah sure, like you had the face to say that.” 

“I did!” Adora insisted. “I told him exactly where he could stuff his-” 

The first minutes of small chat had been stilted but somewhere along the way they had slipped right back into their usual banter. Adora was already patting herself on the back for a job well done. Of course she could be friends with Catra, what was she so scared of? 

* * *

Catra had to admit, watching Adora laugh as she picked up a second slice of pizza was one of the best things that had happened all week. Probably all month. 

A part of her thought she’d never get to see Adora laugh about anything again. The other part thought she would have deserved it. She had put Adora through so much pain. Catra still didn’t understand how Adora had wanted her to still be a part of her life. 

But there was nothing she wouldn’t do to stay in it, as long as Adora kept wanting it, of course. So Catra swallowed down the bitter truth that she was living in borrowed time. Time she wasn’t supposed to get, time that she only got because Adora was the best person she’d ever known and had let her get back a place she didn’t deserve anymore. 

* * *

On Sunday, Adora invited her to watch a movie, and Catra started to get a bit suspicious. There was something in her manner that indicated that Adora was trying to get away with something. The only problem was that Catra didn’t know what it was. 

She said yes mostly out of curiosity, she hoped to find out what Adora wanted. 

And also, because Catra found it hard to resist Adora in any way or form, if she was being honest with herself. (Which she hardly ever was, but living in such proximity to Adora was making it harder and harder to avoid.) 

* * *

Not only did Catra not find out what Adora was planning, she all but forgot about it as soon as the movie started. Adora sat down next to her, closer than they had been in months, and Catra soon found other things to think about. 

* * *

Adora was feeling pretty proud of herself by the end of the week. Glimmer had been right, all she needed to do was stop overthinking everything all the time. Things weren’t awkward because of her unresolved feelings; they were awkward because Adora had made them so. 

The truth was, Adora was still in love the Catra. Maybe she would always be. But that didn’t have to stop her from enjoying being her friend. Sure, it would hurt now and again, but their friendship would always be more important to her than anything else. It had always been that way, and it wouldn’t change now. 

Adora would always fight for them. As long as Catra wanted to have her by her side, Adora would be there. 

* * *

Having Scorpia and Entrapta over again was nice, Adora thought as she absentmindedly took a sip of her tea. She hadn’t seen much of them over the last few months, them being closer friends to Catra than her. She even thought that Scorpia still resented her a bit after all that had happened. 

“So living with your mums is going well?” 

“Oh yes, they are the best. I’m only sorry you couldn’t stay with us,” Scorpia said, looking at Adora with what looked like a glare. “Except for the other day when one of Entrapta’s experiments got on fire while she was away. They weren’t too happy about that.” 

Catra giggled, “please tell me they kicked her out. She deserves it, we all know Entrapta could be renting her own place if she really wanted to.” 

“Then why...?” asked Adora. 

“I needed test subjects for my experiments,” answered Entrapta. 

Adora would have laughed, but the pained expression on Catra’s face told her that it hadn’t been a joke. 

“So how have things been going here?” asked Scorpia. “Are you too cold? Too hot? Does your back hurt from sleeping on the couch?” 

“I’ve been just fine Scorp. You know that, you’ve asked me every single day.” 

“I just want you to be properly taken care off.” Scorpia said, looking Adora’s way again. 

“I’m a grown girl, Scorp.” 

“She does look like she’s doing ok.” Entrapta said, looking up from her phone. “And her interactions with Adora have grown at least 85% less awk-” 

“-Yes, I’m doing great, I know, but enough about me.” Catra interrupted. “What have you been working on, nerdface? Hit me with your latest theories.” 

Entrapta started talking about her week, doing the kind of big hand gestures she did when she was excited. The topic quickly got too technical for Adora to follow, so she just contented herself with looking at Catra, who was clearly enjoying the talk, and her friends, and who looked happier and more comfortable than she had seen her in months. 

A sudden pang of pain surged on her chest when Adora thought about not getting to watch Catra be this happy every day of her life, but she buried it down. She should be grateful for the days she did get to see it, and she was. 

* * *

The least thing Catra expected to find when she walked into Adora’s apartment that evening was Glimmer. It was also the least thing she _wanted_ to find, now that she knew it was a possibility. 

“We need to talk,” Glimmer said, crossing her arms. 

“About what?” 

“Adora.” 

Catra took off her backpack and left it on the couch. “What about her?” 

Glimmer expression was a sour one, and Catra didn’t feel like dealing with it at the moment. Sure, their relationship had made them get much closer over the years, but ever since she had broken up with Adora they had reverted to their initial routine barely veiled hostility. 

“You need to leave her alone, ok? You are hurting her.” 

Wow. Was she serious? “What are you talking about? I’m not doing anything to her. We’ve been getting along great these last few weeks!” 

“You are _hurting_ her,” Glimmer repeated, slower this time, like that would give another meaning to her words. “She’s still in love with you, ok? She never got over you and you are dangling all this stuff that you used to do together in front of her and she says it’s fine because you are friends or whatever but she isn’t, ok? She isn't fine and you need to leave her alone.” 

“Wait, so you came here, waited for me and all, just to tell me to leave her alone because we are getting along too well?” 

“Yes!” Glimmer exclaimed impatiently. “Now, will you?” 

Catra felt like arguing. She always felt like arguing with Glimmer, even when they were in good terms. But. The only thing they both had in common was that they never wanted to do anything that could hurt Adora. The only difference between them was that Catra had gone ahead and hurt her anyway. 

She stayed silent for a few seconds, weighting the truth behind Glimmer’s words. “And what do you propose?” she finally asked. 

“Find another place, give her space, I don’t know.” 

“That’s your advice? ‘I don’t know’? Wow, that’s really helpful.” 

“I’m not the one who got her in this mess to begin with! I’m just letting you know so _you_ can figure out a way to fix it!” 

“Is that what you came here to do? To tell me that I’m hurting Adora so you could wash your hands of the whole thing? It looks like this is less about Adora and more about you being an asshole!” 

“Well, _someone h_ ad to tell you. You think you can do whatever the hell you want and keep hurting Adora, over and over and over again!” 

“I don’t mean to, ok!?” 

“You don’t ‘mean to’? Is that your excuse? You keep breaking her heart but you ‘don’t mean to’?” asked Glimmer with a dangerous glint in her eyes. 

“YES!” Catra yelled. “THAT’S WHY I BROKE UP WITH HER IN THE FIRST PLACE!” 

Silence came over them then. Catra was too agitated to say anything else. 

“What does that mean?” Glimmer asked slowly. 

“It means that you are right, Sparkles. I’m a mess, I fuck up everything I touch. I knew that if Adora and me stayed together I’d find a way to ruin us for good.” 

“You told Adora that you had confused your feelings for her and that you were better off as friends.” 

“We are,” said Catra, the words rushing off her as quickly as a reflex. 

She had revealed too much. And to Glimmer of all people. Catra felt the need to hide, to run, to kick and scream until everything about this situation went away. 

Glimmer clutched her purse closer to her body, and slid past Catra and towards the door. 

“You should talk to Adora,” she said before opening it and stepping outside, leaving Catra alone. 

* * *

Adora came home from work to find a half full suitcase waiting on top of her sofa. 

“Catra?” asked Adora, confused. “Why are you packing your things?” 

Catra didn’t look at her as she continued to put stuff away.

“Catra what’s going on? You don’t need to leave for another week.” 

“I have to.” 

Something in her tone told Adora exactly why Catra needed to leave. 

“I thought we were getting along well. I thought-” 

“That’s the issue Adora. We are getting on too well-” 

“That’s ridiculous. You are my best friend, we can’t-” 

“Yes, we can. Listen, I broke up with you, ok? I hurt you so much. I don’t deserve you being so nice to me!” 

“That’s ridiculous. What does that even mean?” Adora said, exasperated. 

“It means what it means!” Catra exclaimed, frustration seeping into her words as well. 

Adora lost her patience. She closed the lid on the suitcase, forcing Catra to look at her. “Can we please talk about this like adults?” 

“You _don’_ t want to talk about this!” 

“Now what does that mean?” Adora asked, stomping her foot on the ground. 

“It means that you won’t want to see the truth.” 

“Which is?” 

Catra held her gaze for a second, before dropping her eyes to the floor. “That I’m not good for you.” 

All of Adora’s frustration went away in a second. She moved closer to Catra and rested a hand on her cheek, urging her to look at her in the eyes again. 

“That’s not true.” 

Catra shook her head, but Adora’s hand stayed firmly in place. “It is though.” 

“Catra, please, we’ve been through this a million times. I know you have your issues. I have them too! But you are my friend, and I love you.” 

Catra sighed. “You shouldn’t.” 

“That’s not for you to decide.” 

“Are you sure? Because I think it is, I know how bad I can be. How ugly and venomous I can get. And I can’t keep you around, knowing that I’m a bomb waiting to go off.” 

Adora’s heart sunk at hearing her friend describe herself in that way. She caressed Catra’s cheek with her thumb. “Perhaps you used to be that way, but you are not anymore. I know you; I know that you would never hurt me.” 

“But what if I do?” 

“Then I’ll kick your ass,” Adora said, and she felt warmth envelop her when she was rewarded with Catra’s laugh. 

But as soon as it came, it was gone again. “I’ve already hurt you though. A lot.” 

Adora shook her head. “You didn’t mean to. Breaking up wasn’t your fault Catra. We both entered that relationship and we both decided it was best to end it.” 

“I lied,” Catra whispered. “I lied. I didn’t want to end it. I didn’t confuse my feelings. I was just scared of letting you down. Of you waking up one day and realizing you had made a mistake.” 

That made Adora freeze. “You did?” 

Catra avoided her eyes. “Yeah. I thought that was what would be best for you.” 

A chaos of emotions unfurled on Adora’s chest. For a few seconds she wasn’t sure which one was strongest, but in the end, happiness rose victorious. 

“What if, from now on you let me decide what’s best for me? Can you do that?” 

Catra nodded, and Adora could clearly see that she meant it. “I’m sorry. I know I should have talked to you about it and-” 

“I think that what’s best for me is to leave this conversation for later, and to kiss you right now. Can we do that?” 

Catra nodded again, so Adora leaned forward and kissed her. 


End file.
